New directions for me, and the blog

Since starting this blog 3.5 years ago (WOW!), my life has changed quite drastically.  When I started blogging, Eat Pray Love was popular (so that's where the title "snack sweat spirit" grew from...).  I was working at a very (very) boring job in communications and marketing, and was getting to the point where I was unhappy with my career and ready for a drastic change.  And, a drastic change was made - later that same year, I quit my job.  I took my yoga teacher training, went back to school full-time for nutrition, and moved in with boyfriend.  Here we are all this time later, and I've graduated with my second undergraduate degree, and will be going into a coveted dietetic internship in a couple of weeks. My career is about to go through a massive change, and my life is going in a completely new direction than it was when I first started SSS.

As a result, SSS will be starting a new adventure of its own: documenting the life of an RD to be and becoming a resource for dietetic internships in Ontario.


I decided to start dedicating this blog more in this direction because I've heard the demand for it.  As a student at Ryerson, I was heavily involved in student organizations and developing educational and informational events for students in the program.  I didn't realize when I was doing this that many students had no idea what they were getting themselves into.  Many people don't understand the competitive nature of the program or the internship process.  Some students didn't even know the difference between an RD and a nutritionist.  In conversation with students in the program and with people in the general public, I found that there is a lot of misinformation about what an RD is and how one comes to get those letters behind their name.

The information is out there, but it can be challenging to find.  In particular, when I was going through the internship application process I struggled to find information from current interns, recent graduates, or really anyone who had already undergone the process.  I scoured the internet from top to bottom trying to find support from fellow blogging RD-to-be's, and came up empty.  I did find some blogs from American students, but the process there is different than Canada.  Reading about their experiences was interesting and somewhat helpful, but not the same thing as hearing from a Canadian perspective about our system, our hospital programs and being able to network with fellow Canadians.  There's very little information out there for students applying for dietetic internships here, and I intend to change that :)


So what can you expect from this blog?

Now don't you fret, the usual blog topics will still be here - Veggie of the Month isn't going anywhere yet, because I just love to help you get your 5-10 servings per day!  You'll also still get updates about fitness, yoga and healthy lifestyles, and there will still be cool recipes as I make stuff up in my kitchen create carefully thought-out culinary masterpieces.

However,  over the next year as I go through the internship, I'll create a series of posts talking about becoming an RD in Canada.  You'll find information about what education you need to have and the types of programs available (integrated vs. non-integrated), what to expect from your studies, ways to boost your resume and get experience, and lots and lots of info about dietetic internships and grad schools.  As my internship progresses, I'll also try to document my experiences in my rotations, hopefully giving you future interns an idea of what to expect, and everyone else a first-hand look into the life of an RD, and what kinds of work we actually do.



Meanwhile, for all of you nutrition students and internship applicants, if you have any questions that you'd like to ask about the process, the program, or anything else, please feel free to comment!  I'm not the expert on everything, but I'm happy to help as much as I can :)